BEIJING, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 27: Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates her win against Terence Atmane of France in the Men’s Singles Second Round match on day6 of 2025 China Open at National Tennis Center on September 27, 2025 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
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After contesting their third Grand Slam final in a row, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have returned to what they do best -beating the rest of the field. Alcaraz has sailed past the first two rounds in the Japan Open despite a nasty ankle injury, while Sinner is through to the last 16 of the China Open. There are 1300 air miles between them in these two separate ATP500 events, but how much currently separates the two best players in the world on the court?
On the face of it, Sinner has all the thinking to do while a safe distance away from his current nemesis. Alcaraz’s Golden Globe performance at the U.S. Open was his seventh win in the last eight outings against his nearest rival. The Spaniard is now top of the rankings, and the ease with which he dismantled Sinner at Flushing Meadows was sensational, albeit troubling for the immediate parity of the rivalry.
Alcaraz rejected any thoughts that he might be happy to avoid another confrontation in Tokyo. “It’s not really to be honest. I love playing against him. I think that every time we play against each other it helps me to be better and to increase my level. I love that.”
Great rivalries have some wild vacillations in terms of results. Novak Djokovic enjoyed a 31-29 overall record over Rafael Nadal, but the Serb enjoyed two seven-match winning runs against the Raging Bull. It happens.
Roger Federer suffered three five-match losing streaks in his 16-24 record against Nadal. However, when the Swiss came back with a vengeance in the 2017 Australian Open final by applying more pressure, it changed the picture.
Nadal admitted to El País: “He changes the racket for a bigger one, which hits harder, and makes a mental change. Since he knows that he can’t run like before, he becomes a much more aggressive player, and it hurts me a lot.” Federer didn’t drop a set against his rival in their next four meetings.
No one is suggesting that the 23-year-old Italian needs to change too much to stop the negative 4-8 balance. However, the world No. 2 admitted that he was becoming too predictable. There was also another more revealing statement when Sinner suggested that losing matches was a distinct possibility when pushing out of the comfort zone.
The initial result of early experiments was the uneven effort against Terence Atmane on Saturday, whom he had defeated in the Cincinnati semifinals. The Australian Open and Wimbledon champion showed off some surprise tactics, including the serve and volley. Sinner suffered from the mental dips that have afflicted Alcaraz before, losing his way in the second set, before reverting to a more familiar game plan to take the decider as Atmane cramped badly.
TOPSHOT – Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz hits a return against Argentina’s Sebastian Baez during their men’s singles round-of-32 match at the ATP Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo on September 25, 2025. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP) (Photo by YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images)
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This is how it’s going to be for a while. Sinner’s diet will still be a main course of automated efficiency, but there are some change-ups cooking. “It’s difficult to add new things to your tennis, but I’ve tried. I served and volleyed a few times, which worked really well sometimes and other times not so much. I feel I need to hit the perfect shot to control that play. Many times, I don’t wait for the right moment. Now I’m trying to add new things, which I hope will lead me to positive aspects in a couple of months,” he said in the press conference after overcoming the Frenchman.
Sinner has had his chances to turn the pattern into a more even contest. Famously, he held three match points in that incredible French Open Classic and the 200-minute Beijing final last year was another 50/50 contest where Sinner held a 3-0 lead in the final set tiebreak.
A year later, the two best players are aiming for more titles in the Asian Swing. They may well collide again in the Shanghai Masters for the 13th instalment of the Sinner-Alcaraz series. The Italian will be hoping that it’s unlucky for one.
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